Not Now, Not Ever
by CrystallinePurpleLion
Summary: I won't let anything happen to you mijo. Not now not ever. - One-shot


**Disclaimer: I do not own Generator Rex!**

**A/N: I started this at 1 in the morning, and I'm posting it at 10:30 in the evening. To anyone following Take Another Path, I just wanted to tell you that the story is always in my mind, and I have no thoughts of not updating. Enjoy! Because who doesn't love brotherly fluff?**_**  
**_

**Not Now, Not Ever  
**

_'César! __Hermano__, where are you? Can you tell me about mama and papa again?' But there was only the darkness, cold and silent. 'Where are you César? Why did you leave me? I can't see anything…'_

_Finally, someone answered. The darkness cleared a little, revealing his brother smiling down at him._

_'It's okay, __hermano__…' It was an ugly smile, and in César's hands was a collar. Rex tried to back away, but his arms were trapped in that machine again, the one that had taken out the Meta-nanite in him. 'It will all be over soon…'_

_'No!' he shouted, straining against the bonds. 'How could you do this to me, your own brother?!' César reached out with the collar, and Rex threw his head back, thrashing so his brother would not be able to secure the device._

_'Shh, Rex,' he comforted, 'in a minute you won't have to worry about anything anymore…' Finally, he managed to put the collar around Rex's neck, despite the younger's struggle._

_'I will NOT be controlled! You can't control me! Stop it, stop it NOW!'_

He woke up, certain that he was falling into nothingness. Sitting up, he looked around at the white walls and the TV and realised he was in his room at Providence.

"Just a dream," he said aloud, as if hearing it would make him believe it. "It was just a dream…" He heaved a sigh, letting himself fall back on the mattress.

He lay there for a time, content in listening to the sounds made by Providence HQ at night. There wasn't much activity, just the low roar of jet engines. How he had missed that… Don't get him wrong, he'd loved the dam base, he really had! It was like a place filled with only his favourite people in the world (forget White, he forgets about everyone else anyway…). When Noah came by, his small family was complete without the blank stares of the soldiers hanging over him, probably thinking what a freak he was.

But his memories started with Providence. The same sounds he was hearing now he had been hearing for as much of his life as he could remember, and that is not something you forget easily. Okay, scratch that, he _was_ afraid that one day he'd wake up without any memories again, but he knew he could trust his family to pull him out of it. Let alone his brother who could probably whip up a machine to make him remember everything before you could say 'Mad Scientist'.

Someone was outside his door. The breathing pattern was irregular and whoever it was was out of breath. Had they run all the way? What was the emergency in the dead of night, with no alarms blaring and no voice over the intercom instructing everyone in position? He contemplated getting up and asking who it was, but then decided against the idea. Whatever it was could wait till morning.

He was just beginning to nod off again when he heard the door sliding open. Peeking to see who it was, he couldn't help but start when he realised it was his brother. He was trying to be quiet, and had this peculiar device Rex had first seen him with. It had got César into Providence with virtually no opposition!

"You do realise it's three in the morning, don't you?" César jumped a foot into the air.

"Sí, hermano, but your biometrics are low, so I came to see if anything was wrong." It was a poor excuse, in Rex's opinion.

"Well, I bet my biometrics are just fine now." He attempted to create a giant mechanical fist in place of his right hand, but the appendage broke into pieces before it was fully formed. César had a triumphant smile on his face. "Okay," Rex sighed, "maybe not. What were you doing up at this hour anyway?" César sat onto the bed with a huge smile.

"Finishing my latest project. It's-"

"A stupid question," interrupted Rex. "Who asks the mad scientist why he is not getting enough sleep? But seriously, can I not catch you off guard with any question?"

"No, hermano. Since you are the younger sibling, I have long been used to you and your antics, and probably somewhat know your way of thinking, while your current status, which could be labelled 'amnesiac' implies-"

"Am I secretly the love child of mum and Van Kleiss?" César's eyes almost bulged out of his skull. "Is that why you don't care about me?" He hadn't planned to say that, but the words just spilled out on their own, disregarding the signals his brain sent.

"What? Of course not! What would make you think that?" But even as he said it, he realised exactly what events would make his brother assume such a thing.

"Oh, I don't know… Maybe when you kept implying science is more important than family; that was a clue. Or when you tried to put that collar on me, or when-"

Rex's rant was cut off when his brother hugged him close. César made sure to hold him extra tight, forgetting when the last time he had done this was. Was it when he had first come back? Who knew?

"Listen, mijo. All this time, my first priority was to finish my work. Not the small, empty projects I've thought up, but the plan. Before we became desperate and let the nanites go, we were working on how to prevent those machines from ever getting into the wrong hands. It was a matter of hiding what we did from everyone apart from our little group, everyone who was still sane in that team. Then… you got involved. I don't think it was an accident anymore. In fact, I'm sure Van Kleiss caused it, so my parents and I would stop working on the project and getting in his way. What he didn't plan on is that we'd save you, and also hide that last Meta-nanite in you, but he found a way to use even that to his advantage."

_'We've been hired to do something, and we're supposed to do it! What about professionalism?'_

_'We're supposed to be making the world better, not creating super-powered gods out of some rich guys! What about morality?'_

_Rex closed his eyes, but that did not block out the sounds. His mother and father were in danger, and he could not let them down. He'd seen that guy Van-something grab a gun just before that meeting. Now he saw him digging into his lab coat pocket._

_'He's got a gun!' he shouted from behind the crates he was hiding. But wait, why were Mama and Papa also searching through their pockets? Did they have guns too?_

_'We're scientists, Kleiss, not murderers, and you should know that. Or are you that crazy for power?' Van Kleiss smiled and brought out the gun, but did not point it at Rex's parents. The barrel was pointed at Rex._

_'Are you not even concerned that we may have an intruder?' he asked, haughtily calm. Rex was pretty sure the crates hid him, but still his parents looked terrified. And César was- not there? Where was his brother?_

_Somebody grabbed him from behind, turning him around, and he would've screamed had he not been smothered in a hug. 'Shh, Rexy, let's get you out of here before that third-rate buffoon does something he will regret once I'm through with him.' César carried him out of the lab, through a storage room and out in the open. 'That was really brave, what you did back there. We knew Kleiss was mad, but not enough to kill. Anyway, he couldn't have done anything. If he had he would've had to answer to the ones funding this, and they would not be happy…' He chuckled, as if imagining his colleague whining like a kicked puppy. Still carrying Rex, he sat down with his back to the wall of the castle._

_'I thought he'd kill me…' Rex could not stop the tears anymore._

_'I won't let anything happen to you __mijo, __not now not ever. I promise.' The device in his pocket rang. When he didn't make a move to open it, it started talking on its own with his mother's voice. "César, the meeting finished five minutes ago. You're needed in the North tower, an experiment was initiated. It's going to explode in three; two; one-"_

_'No!' César screamed. He looked up, and Rex followed his gaze. They saw the great tower overhead go alight in flames, and the terrible sound of the explosion followed tenths of seconds later. They got to their feet, César pulling Rex along, rushing to get away from where the tower would inevitably fall._

_Van Kleiss was there. Rex could see him through the dust right in front of them. Fear took over him, and he stopped. He tried to drag César back, but he kept pulling him forward._

_'He'll kill us, César, he will! We have to go back!'_

_He got away from his brother and ran, trying to forget the terror of the gun pointing at him._

_'Rex! Rex!'_

_The last thing he heard was his brother calling his name. Then his world was pain and brown and rock and blood. Everything went black._

Rex gasped and pulled out of the memory. _If_ it was a memory. It could have just been a dream his mind had come up with because everyone kept mentioning the 'accident' without telling him what in the world had happened.

"I'm here, Rex, I'm here..." his brother was still holding him tight. It was difficult to admit, but maybe he wanted that hug right now. He finally felt some semblance of safety coming from someone other than Six or Holiday. "What happened? You blacked out on me for... approximately five and a half minutes. Wait, do you know who I am? Did I do something wrong? I'm pretty sure the program was as close to flawless as possible..."

"_You_ made me have that flashback?"

"So it worked... Phew," César's relief was palpable. "I tried my hardest, but there still was ten percent chance of your memory being wiped clean and-"

"Wait," Rex pushed his brother at arm's length. "What was it supposed to do?"

"Seeing as you have amnesia, I guess you seek out information that is not there anymore, so I just created a data recovery device with enough power for a few minutes maximum. What did you think of our parents?"

Rex didn't answer immediately. "Curiously, it was more about you and Van Kleiss. What have I done to deserve to see him at every turn?"

Cézar's head whipped around, and he pulled his little brother into another hug. "There is something I've been meaning to tell you... If you can look past those last few months, of course. Now that everything's over, and I've my promise to mama and papa, just know that... I won't let anything happen to you mijo, not now not ever. I promise."

He tightened his grip once more and left the room, planting a soft kiss on Rex's forehead. It felt familiar... like it had happened thousands of times before. It felt like a promise.

_I __won't let anything happen to you __mijo, __not now not ever._

__**The End  
**


End file.
